For The Record
by MechaHero
Summary: Piper, determined to interview Roger, gets some answers she's not exactly ready for. After knowing all of these things she feels closer to him, not that she wasn't feeling close to him already. !MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS!


"Tell me something, have you ever killed a man? Not because you had to, but because you wanted to. I want the truth." Piper's eyes cut into Roger like cold steel. He stared back at her, letting his eyes move over her face. Her expression was hard and unfaltering. He shifted in his seat, "suppose I have, then what? Will that change things?" Her face didn't change; she blinked so quick it would be hard to catch. "I need an answer." Roger grimaced "once." Piper's eyes didn't leave his as she jotted down his answer. "He was the man who killed my wife, stole my son, and destroyed my family." Piper's gaze eased up a bit and she looked down to write now.

"I didn't mean to… I mean-" Roger put his hand on hers "It's fine, Piper, you couldn't have known." She flinched, eyeing his hand on hers. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable he removed his hand and cleared his throat. She opened her moth to say something but then closed it again. "Did you have other questions?" Piper looked at him, a very faint hint of color flushing just under her eyes. "Tell me about your family." Roger folded his arms on the table in front of him and sighed heavily. "It's a complicated answer. Before now I only knew Shaun briefly. He was so young. My wife… She was beautiful, so happy to be a mother. She came from a big family, a handful of siblings, even more aunts and uncles so when we had Shaun she was so excited…"

He trailed of and found a spot in the corner of the room to focus on. "I don't think she would have lasted in this new world, though" he finally continued. "It would have broken her down. Hell it should have broken me down. The only reason I've come this far was to find my boy. Now that I've found him, I'm not so sure what to think." Piper watched his face change. He looked almost disappointed, maybe a little sad. She wanted to ask about Shaun but she didn't like seeing Roger so down. "I'll understand if you don't want to talk about him but, do you want to tell me about Shaun?" Roger stroked his chin, growing bored of the corner, but not able to look Piper in the eye. He wasn't sure she was ready for what was to be said about Shaun, "maybe another time, Piper." She nodded, she understood but she was just very curious about everything.

Roger, finally coming to his senses, watched as Piper caught up on her writing. She was so focused, chewing on her lip as she scribbled down words faster than the spelling came to her, she's edit it all later. "Piper, how would you like to travel with me?" She stopped writing and looked up at him, putting the end of the pen in her mouth. "Where're we going?" "I've got someone I'm sure you'd like to meet." Roger answered, standing up and adjusting his arm guard. "So what do you say, interested?" Piper stood up quickly and ran to the back of room to grab something. "Okay, yeah, let's go!" Before we head out I need to know that you're prepared for what and who we see. You're right, you need answers, but it's raw, it's everything, this is me. Can you handle that, Piper?" The reporter was caught between a smile and a frown- she wanted to know everything about him, but at what cost? "Alright, alright, let's go, Blue."

/

They arrived at an abandoned site with construction equipment spread out here and there. Piper got an eerie feeling and clasped her hands together. "What is this place?" Roger turned to face her and held out his hand. Piper looked at it and them his face. "It works better if we both go at the same time," Roger said, reaching forward and taking her hands. They stepped onto a platform, covered in a light layer of dirt, and their weight triggered the mechanism. Piper subtly moved closer to Roger, more or less nervous about what she was about to see, she didn't let go of his hand. Piper's face burned, the fact that he didn't pull away made her feel secure, more than she had been in a long time.

The elevator reached the bottom of what was now clearly a vault. Piper's stomach turned, she knew where they were and she had dreaded coming here even though she hoped someday she would. Roger's hand slipped from Piper's and he led the way through the vault. The silence was deafening, something she's never experienced. "So this is it, huh, the ol' one-eleven?" Roger didn't answer at first, he was too focused on his steps, "Yes, this is it." Piper tightened her lips, very sure of what she was about to see. After only a short distance from the entrance piper saw the walls lined with cryogenic chambers.

She slowed her pace as Roger walked on ahead; she looked at the faces of the people frozen in time, their expression of terror marked on their faces forever. Piper felt sad, not only for what she was about to witness, but that all these people trusted in the government to save them and for what? She watched Roger then, he had stopped in front of an open chamber and had one arm wrapped around his chest, the other hand pressed tightly over his mouth. Piper walked up to him and turned to see a woman, perfectly preserved, with a gunshot wound that still looked fresh. "Is… is that… Oh Blue, I'm so sorry." She put her hand up on his shoulder and he only stood there in silence.

"What was her name?" He was quiet for longer than he intended then cleared his throat, "Nora. Her name was Nora." Piper took a good long look at her, she was beautiful. She was Middle Eastern from some area or another, her skin looked soft, and her hair still full of shine. Piper imagined the kidnappers trying to take Shaun away from her and her putting up a fight, not letting them take her baby. "She must have been so brave." Roger made a low grunting noise, possibly in agreement. They stood there for a minute in silence; Piper was trying to take it all in so that she could remember what to write later.

"Ready to go?" Roger asked, Piper nodded and he led her back through the vault. They entered the elevator and the world around them was dark, the sun was setting, but the settlement a short distance away was lit up. "I'm going to introduce you to someone very important and before you ask, no, it's not Dogmeat." Piper chucked, it was good to hear him being sarcastic after visiting his dead spouse.

As Roger introduced Piper to Codsworth he heard a small voice in the distance. "Dad?" Both Piper and Roger turned quickly to face the small boy that was walking quickly towards them. Piper fought her jaw from hanging as Roger knelt down to hug the young boy. He must have been around ten years old. "Piper, this is Shaun, Shaun, this is my good friend Piper, she works for the newspaper." Shaun waved and Piper waved back. "Hi Shawn, I didn't think I'd get to meet you." Piper gave a sharp look at Roger and he knew she wanted answers to questions he could already guess.

"So you work for the newspaper, huh? Wow, does everyone read it? I'll bet you right great!" Piper beamed and ruffled his hair, "well aren't you a little charmer, just like your dad." Roger laughed and stood upright, "hey bud, why don't you go give Dogmeat a walk, he could use the exercise. Make sure someone goes with you, actually take McCready with you, he could use the exercise too." "Alright dad, bye, Piper!" They watched as Shaun ran off into the darkening settlement of Sanctuary Hills. Roger watched after him for a while, his smile sinking back into the stoic expression Piper was familiar with. "He was born in the Institute." Piper's jaw couldn't be contended with this time as her mouth gaped open. "The Shaun I held as an infant, the real one, he became the _father_ of the Institute. All that time I thought he would still be my little boy, but in reality he was take from me 60 years ago." Piper finally managed to close her mouth, but her eyes were wide as ever. "That's not even the worst part, if you can believe it. When the Institute went under, when I… destroyed it…" Piper put her hands over her mouth; she knew what he was going to say. "He died in there with it, with his life work, and I… I killed him then. I had a hand in it. I let him die.

"Shaun, this one, he was programmed to believe I am his father. He was 'given' to me by my real son. I figured it would be easier to believe if you saw him." Piper sunk down onto the floor and just sat there for a while, staring at the ground. It was so hard to believe but how could Roger have made it up? How could anyone make any of this up? Roger sat down next to her and kicked his legs out. "It's a lot to take in, I know, but I thought you deserved to hear the truth and well, here it is." Piper put her arm around him in a somewhat awkward side hug, "I'm sorry you've gone through all of this, Blue."

It happened again, he didn't push her away and she felt warmth radiating from her face. He returned the hug and brought her in closer. She held her breath, this kind of human interaction was rare but that's not to say she didn't appreciate it. Eventually he withdrew his arm and she did the same, not wanting to linger longer than what was acceptable. "Thanks for sharing all this with me." Roger patted her on the knee before standing up, "whenever you're ready to go home, we can get started." Piper smiled up at him, he was easy to have feelings for, but after what she saw she never wanted to force her feelings on him. When he was ready he might say something. She sighed and shrugged before standing up and dusting off her pants, "alright then, take me home, Blue."


End file.
